WFP warns of surge in Chad

The United Nations World Food programme (WFP) has warned of a likely scarcity of food and displacement of people in Chad.

This follows the intensifying fight involving Boko Haram (BH) Jihadist in both Nigeria and Chad.

WFP said the current surge in the area would lead to more people being displaced.

According to WFP, more than 5.6 people do not have enough food to eat in the areas affected by the Boko Haram crisis in Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad and Niger and predicts that this could lead to prolonged hunger.

Matu Bulumi, a 65 year-old village leader, fled the village of Galia, on the islands of Lake Chad, early this month. He speaks of his experience.

“Boko Haram is making us suffer. We fled when they attacked a village nearby”
Balumi and his family were resettled in the Kouloukimé displaced person’s camp, currently hosting about 5,000 Chadians.

WFP had earlier warned that Niger and Cameroon, malnutrition rates had surpassed the 15 percent emergency threshold, with some areas near the Nigerian border having malnutrition rates as high as 35 percent.

Refugees from Darfur living securely in Chad depend on USAIDFFP #sorghum grown by US farmers for nourishment WFP pic.twitter.com/upG0rk4d5W

— K Tanner Stahlberg (@TannerStahlberg) March 30, 2015

Violence by BH in the northeastern part of Nigeria has in recent times forced more than 200,000 people out of their homes into neighboring Niger, Cameroon and Chad. This has consequently caused growing numbers of internally displaced people.

WFP spokesperson, Alexis Masciarelli said the world food programme is scaling up its operations as more and more displaced people are arriving.He noted that majority of the refugees rely almost exclusively on humanitarian aid.

The U.N. food aid agency aims to provide food assistance to 600,000 people in the area affected by the crisis.